Frederick stitzel



(No Model.)

F. STITZEL.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRICAL SWITCH. No. 882,625.. Patented May 8, 1888.

whim @0080 amamto'c 33* t] Horn 121 y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' FREDERICK STITZEL, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICANSEMAPHORE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRICAL SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 382,625, dated May 8,1888.

Application filed February 25, i888. Serial No. 265,231. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, FREDERICK STITZEL, of Louisville, in the county ofJefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and. usefulImprovements in Automatic Electrical Switches; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in electrical switches, and moreparticularly to such as are adapted to operate automaticallybytvariations of the strength of electromagne s.

In telegraph, electric-signal, and other systems which are operated on anormally-closed circuit the battery is liable to become weakened byconstant use, and thus operate the instruments unsatisfactorily.

It is the object of my present invention to provide mechanism by which aweak battery may be cut out and a fresh battery switched into circuitautomatically.

A further object is to produce an automatic switch for electriccircuits, which shall be simple and cheap in construction and effectivein operation.

With these objects in view my invention consists in certain novelfeatures of construe tion and peculiar combination and arrangement ofparts, as will be hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of myimproved switch. Fig. 2 is a side view of same. Fig. 3 is a detachedview of one of the counterbalance-weights.

A indicates a base, of wood or other suitable material, having twoelectro-magnets, B C, mounted thereon in pairs or singly, as desired,and removed a short distance from each other.

An upright, D, is fixed to the base, preferably between the magnetsB C,and, extending some distance above said magnets, is advisably widenednear its upper end, as shown in Fig. l.

Pivoted to the upright D a short distance above the magnets B C is alever, E, having arms a b a, this lever being made of brass or othersuitable material. The arm a of this lever E is preferably made thinnerthan the arms a b, and extending from the center of the lever E atrightangles thereto is adapted to bear with a yielding pressure upon metallicblocks ef g, secured on the face of the upright D near its top. Themetallic blocks efg are separated a short distance from each other andact as electrical contact-blocks, as hereinafter set forth.

Secured to the arms a b of the lever E, at each side of the upright D,are soft-iron armatures F F, said armatures being secured to the leverdirectly over the poles of the magnets B O, as shown in Fig. 1.

Short posts G G are fixed to the base block A, directly beneath-the armsa b of the lever, and preferably at or near the extremities of saidarms, these posts being about two-thirds the height of the magnets B C.The posts G G serve as supports for two weights, H H, preferably made inseparable sections, and provided at their top with shanks h, havingelongated slots 1', as shown most clearly in Fig. 3.

The weights I-I Hare placed upon the ends of the arms a b of the leverE, and one permitted to rest upon its supporting-post, while the otheris held suspended by the lever E, and vice versa, as the deviceoperates, as presently explained. The posts G G and weights H H serve assupports for the end of the lever actuated by the magnets,and preventthe armatures on the lever from approaching too near the magnets.

The cores of the magnets should be made of small diameter and the wirecomposing the coils should be comparatively large, so as to offer aslittle resistance to the current as possible.

Two batteries, I J, will be employed, the battery I being represented inFig. 1 of the drawings as being in use, while the battery J is held inreserve to be automatically switched into circuit when the battery Ibecomes weak. One pole of the battery I is connected by a wire with oneend of the coil of the magnet B, the other pole of said battery beingconnected through the main circuit-Wire j With the contact-bloekf on theupright D. The free end of the coil of the magnet B is now connected bya wire, 7;, with the eontactblock a, while the contact-block g isconnected with one end of the coil of magnet O by means of a wire, Z,the opposite end of the coil of said magnet being connected with a poleof the battery J. The opposite pole of the battery Jis then con nectedwith the wire L by means of wire a.

'The device will be regulated to the desired strength of the current byapplying or removing sections of the weights H H.

The device being constructed and electrically connected as above setforth operates as follows: Assuming that the battery I is in opera tion,the parts will take the positions shown in Fig. 1. When the battery Ibecomes so weak that the strength of the magnet 13 is overcome by theweight II, the lever E will turn on its fulcrum until the weight Hreaches its seat on post G During this movement of the lever the arm 0will move from its position on contact-blocks cf and electricallyconnect the blocksf 5/, thus cutting out the battery I and switching inthe battery J. The magnet 0 now becoming magnetized attracts thearmature F and causes the arms a' Z) of the leverE to first move thelimit of the slots '5 in the shanks of the weights H II and then raisethe weight 11 on the arm a. The arm 0 is sufticiently wide, so that whenmoved over the blocks cfg one battery will be switched into circuitbefore the other is cut out. After the battery I has been thusautomatically cut out, its electrodes may be taken out and cleaned by anattendant and other necessary repairs made to said battery, so that whenthe battery J becomes weak the battery I will be again automaticallyswitched into circuit.

It is evident that slight changes might be made in the constructivedetails of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof orlimiting its scope; hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exactdetails of construc tion herein set forth; but

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an electrical switch, the combination, withelectromagnets, of apivoted lever carrying a countcrbalance-weight at each side of itsfulcrum, and contact-blocks with which an .arm of said lever is adaptedto make contact,

adjust-able weights carried by the lever at opposite sides of itsfulcrum, and a series of contact-blocks with which an arm of the lever13 adapted to make contact, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

at. In an automatic electrical switch, the combination,with twoelcctro-magnets and two batteries, of a lever pivoted above saidelectromagnets and carrying armatures, adjustable weights carried by thelever at opposite sides of its fulcrum, contact-blocks with which an armof the lever makes contact, and conductors connecting the contactblockswith the batten ies and coils of the magnets, substantially as setforth.

5. In a switch, the combination, with two clectronnagnets and twobatteries, ofa pivoted lever carrying a weight at each side of itsfulcrum, three contact-blocks mounted on a suit able support andelectrically connected with the batteries and coils of theelectromagncts, and an arm of the lever adapted to connect thecontact-blocks in pairs alternately as the device operates,substantially as set forth.

6. In an electrical switch, the combination, with two electro-magnets,of a pivoted lever above said magnets and carrying weights on oppositesides of its fulcrum, a series of contaetblocks with which an arm of thelever is adapted to make cont-act, and two batteries electricallyconnected with the eontact blocks and coils of the magnets, whereby whenone battery becomes weak it will be cut out and the other batteryswitched into circuit automatically when the arm of the lever movesover, the contact-blocks, substantially as set forth.

7. In an electrical switch, the combination, with two electro-magnets,of a lever pivoted above said magnets and carrying a weight at each sideof its fulcrum, and having slotted shanks through which the arms of thelever pass, supporting-posts mounted on a base be neath the weights, andcontact-blocks with which an arm of the lever is adapted to engage,substantially as set forth.

S. In an electrical switch, the combination, with two electro-magnels,of a lever having three arms pivoted above said magnets and carryingarmatures, and weights on two arms of the lever at opposite sides of itsfulcrum, the third arm of said lever being made thin and adapted to bearwith ayielding pressure upon a series of contact-blocks, substantiallyas set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK S'lI'lZEL.

W'itnesses:

GimRLns W EINEDEL, A. ENGELLIA'RD, Jr,

